The present disclosure relates generally to apparatus that disengage a tool when brought into contact with a surface, with the disengagement serving as an indication of undesired contact with the surface. More specifically, the embodiments of the disclosure relate to a fastener that limits communication between the fastener and the surface.
A fastener is recognized as a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more objects together. It is understood that when the fasteners join the objects, the fastener may extend a distance further than desired, referred to herein as a hyper-extension, and this hyper-extension may cause interference with one or more product components. There are different causes for hyper-extension, including but not limited to, overextension caused by over torqueing and improper selection of the fastener for the task (e.g. installation error). In another instance, the fastener could be selected properly but the receiving object could be improperly designed to accommodate the fastener (e.g. design error). When a fastener is in a hyper-extended position, e.g. installed beyond a desired depth, the fastener may unintentionally contact one or more secondary components, which may cause issues with the fastener, the contacted component and/or the receiving object associated with the fastener
In electronics manufacturing, fasteners are employed to support electronic joining of objects that may be subject to or support electrical communication. For example, fasteners may be employed to fix hardware products to a printed circuit board. If the fastener is not properly configured or designed for either the hardware product and/or the printed circuit board, the fastener may improperly or unintentionally come into contact with the printed circuit board. This unintended or improper contact can cause shorts, burns, and other damage to the printed circuit board. Torque identification alone will not prevent the contact between the fastener and the board. For instance, if the selected fastener was improperly selected (e.g. larger than desired) the fastener will contact the board before the fastener is indicated to be over torqued.